Eurotunnel Strike to Disrupt Bank Holiday Travel
There is due to be plenty of disruptions on rail networks this bank holiday, which is due to cause chaos for thousands of British holidaymakers. Travellers have already been warned that not all services will be running in parts of the UK due to maintenance, but now there are threats of industrial action being held by French drivers on the Channel Tunnel.
Eurotunnel, the firm that manages and operates the Channel Tunnel, has warned of the possibility of French drivers not showing up for work to operate the Calais to Folkstone service for its car shuttles. The company has stopped taking bookings for the journeys scheduled on Saturday, Sunday and Monday - a move that it hopes will ease the disruption.
French staff are pushing for an 8% pay increase from Eurotunnel and have threatened to start striking on Saturday if they don’t get a deal. During the three-day weekend, some 100,000 people have planned to travel from France to England and have booked spots for more than 25,500 vehicles, while another 12,000-15,000 are expected to travel from England to France. A spokesman for the company says they are looking to possibly send British workers to operate the French terminal. It’s their hope that a full service can be operated during the bank holiday, he added.
Aside from this strike action, First TransPennine drivers were due to hold industrial action starting today at 12:01am until the walkout was delayed for further talks. The workers are calling for a rise in pay after already rejecting a 2.2% increase. On Wednesday, the drivers held a strike that disrupted travel for thousands of people, and many more would have been inconvenienced if today’s strike had gone ahead.